For many of us women, preparing for summer starts weeks or months in advance as it’s notable “bikini season”. While I was growing up, this was most highlighted by the infamous tumblr trends of thigh gaps and bikini bridges. Somehow simultaneously trending was an emphasis on curves and being “slim thick”. I will say that I have been on the luckier side to have not ever struggled with my weight (knocking on wood) as many women do. However, I definitely still tend to hone in on my appearance and fitness levels around this time of year.
During my adolescence, I never really put too much thought into my health. I was always an athlete so I never needed to make personal time to workout; that all happened during practices, meets, games etc. I didn’t have much thought around my food either. I usually bought lunch at school and my parents cooked dinner. Of course, I knew that the ice cream and McDonald’s my friends and I would go out for wasn’t great, but did anyone think it was?
And while, by appearance I always looked fit and healthy, I did experience quite a few medical issues I would say less than common for most teenagers. I had a kidney stone at 16 and a pulmonary embolism at 17. Since I was little, my mom always described me as a complete rag doll when I was ill. Things like Mono, walking pneumonia, the flu would really take everything out of me. When I was 13, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. That really made me more conscious of when my body was not doing well. Of course, there are the less visible struggles I’ve dealt with regarding mental health. As anyone who has experienced them knows, anxiety and depression can be just as debilitating as physical ailments.
Like I said, I didn’t really give too much thought past the basics and any doctor’s recommendations to my health before. In the last few years though, it’s really become a focal point for me in all types of ways, not just the expected: food I eat and ways I workout but also my mental heath, spirituality, and realizing the political and social implications of differing “health cultures”.
I’ve really come to find myself moving towards holistic health and wellness in the last few years. It’s crazy to me the reputation holistic health has gotten. I wish I had a more sophisticated way to describe it but personally, I think a lot of it just makes sense.
I started to pay more attention and develop more of an opinion on food first out of some ethical dilemmas. I used to do Meatless Mondays as a way to lower my meat consumption because of what I thought to be the environmental impacts. There may be some truth in it but I started to be a little more multi layered in my thinking. Is deforestation and reduction in biodiversity for soy production inherently better? Is the increase in pesticide and fertilizer use not also unnatural for our water? After having some inconsistent reactions, I remember my pediatrician once telling me I’m probably not allergic to the fruit but the pesticides used on them .That can’t be right? Would I really have some child in the developing world burn their hands peeling cashews a better alternative than drinking cow’s milk? Now, I’m not saying there are no repercussions either way, I’m just saying (as most things are) it’s more nuanced than a simple wrong or right.
It also sparked my ways of thinking about food for my health. I mean is the turkey bacon chemically processed to look and taste like something else really healthier than just bacon? Like I said earlier, I still indulge in fast food and candy, I’m no paragon of clean eating it’s just that I don’t expect those things to be healthy. My real beef is with all the things marketed towards us to be nutritious that just aren’t. They are overly processed and/or have unnatural additives to get there. For myself, I’ve come to the principle that the most healthy AND ethical way to eat is to eat whole foods and locally grown/farmed as much as possible.
Food itself can be so healing! Another core step of my “wellness journey” has been really limiting the amount of medications I take. I started getting migraines very young and with my lyme diagnosis, I grew up taking so so so much ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Now, I pretty much only take Excederin if I am at my absolute wit’s end. Instead, I try to correct the cause of my headaches or pain. I would say 50% of the time I have a headache, it’s likely sleep or stress related. 45% I likely am dehyrdated and/or have not eaten enough for the day. So 95% of the time there’s a way for me to find another remedy than taking OTC pain killers.
Even this cold and allergy season I’ve stayed away from OTC meds. My honey intake has certainly increased. My sister gifted us all batches of Fire Cider for Christmas which I used preventatively and in substitute of any Day or Nyquils. The newest addition to my mornings has been bee pollen actually which is basically it’s own multivitamin.
Supposedly, fitness is 90% food and 10% exercise. Still my 10% is also an evolving part of my wellness journey. I used to go to the gym and lift with basically the sole motivation of having a flat stomach and a shapely ass. Strength training is important for a multitude of reasons but strictly vanity is not the best motivator. When I was working out just for the way I looked. I was so neglectful of flexibility, cardio vascular health, actual functional strength trainings and other areas of fitness that I will need to carry me into my old age. I’ve come to love incorporating a variety of workouts and disciplines into my routine.
Yoga’s focus on breath, mind-body connection, and grounding is a great practice for both mental and physical health. I also love Barre and Pilates. Of course, never underestimate the power of just walking, especially outside. Really, just getting any type of movement in outside at all. My pediatrician always preached to me about the importance of Vitamin D for our bodies and mind.
And isn’t that the true state of wellness? Health in both our body and minds. I have been so grateful for the practices I have discovered to take care of both. Health is an ever evolving field with countless contradicting opinions. There is value in all of them. I hope you all take some time to find the balance that best serves you.
DEBORAH
From an older perspective I have to admit when I was a teen or even Natalie’s age health was not really something I pondered about. I was always super thin and never had to worry about what I ate. I actually wanted to be more curvaceous like my mom but genetics would not have it. Like Natalie, I did indulge on McDonalds as my grandmother introduced it to me as a treat. Who didn’t love McDonalds as a kid? Somewhere along the line the taste changed and I no longer frequent McDonalds or have not for at least 20 years. Our household growing up was never full of junk food. There was no soda, no candy (only on holidays) and limited snacks. I was thrilled when we got Devil Dogs and Funny Bones…
I was fairly healthy as a child except for my reoccurring eczema which not one doctor could help. It was a dermatitis and they had no idea what caused it. Not one prescription came close to healing it. It would come and go on my right hand and we threw everything at .. my grandmother would put garlic poultices on it. Want to talk about burn…Thank God I finally outgrew it but it wasn’t until my mid to late twenties. Other than the nasty eczema I rarely got sick except for when I got tonsilitis and mono at the same time..( that damn kissing disease) which then resulted in a tonsillectomy. That was not a fun experience at the age of 18. Who wanted to spend the end of their senior year in the hospital?
All through college and my early twenties I was prone to sinus infections. It was at this point in my life and probably up until Covid that I had complete trust in traditional medicine. Why would I ever question it? Just like my belief that the government had my best interest, why would I think doctors didn’t have my best interest at heart? How naive I was.
The thought of my doctor’s office operating as a business was not really in my brain back then. Of course I knew it was on some level. I remember being in school thinking that doctors made big big money.. and that was one of the reasons they went to school for so long… I believed they took on such a large responsibility and had to learn so much that it was fair that they were well compensated.
When I look back at my experiences with doctors over the last forty years I do have to admit a few of my experiences were conflicted. Being diagnosed with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) in my late thirties was when I struggled with the recommendation to take an anti depressant/anxiety medication. My gastroenterologist felt my disease was exacerbated by my anxiety. He was probably partially right but was it really the entire cause? I wasn’t anxious 24/7. Along with prescribing medications for the digestive problems he wanted me to take Paxil. He read my hesitation and appealed to my logical brain by saying: “well if you had cancer you would treat it with a medication so why wouldn’t you treat your anxiety with medication?” Sounded like he defended his position? Although I was not seeing him for anxiety I decided he made sense and he was of course “the doctor”.
Over the years my symptoms ebbed and flowed… it didn’t seem like the Paxil made a huge difference. Thus, I decided to take an alternative approach, weaned myself off of the drug and investigated cognitive therapies which I referenced in this previous post. In retrospect we never really solved why I was having anxiety or if the anxiety actually contributed to the symptoms. Shocking, no?
Although I didn’t get any concrete answers for my condition I did not lose faith in Western medicine. I still felt medical professionals were working for the greater good. I questioned very little especially when it came to my children. I wanted them protected to the best of my abilities and felt “they knew better”. Part of my biggest regret is wishing I had asked more questions instead of blindly trusting. They are just as human as the rest of us and make mistakes and poor judgments just as much as you and I.
As I’m aging and I encounter more health issues, the focus on my health has become a priority. I guess we all take this very important aspect of our lives for grant it when we are feeling well. Albeit many Americans suffer from mental health conditions and roughly 60% suffer from a chronic disease [https://nihcm.org/publications/the-growing-burden-of-chronic-diseases] one would think wellness would be a priority.
During the Covid crisis I began researching and following some very courageous doctors. The more I found that they were being censored the more I began to question why? One thing became very obvious and that was that they were not falling in line with the media/government narrative. One has to ask oneself, what is the threat here for these doctors to suggest alternative therapies? We do live in a free country or so I thought. Why can’t I decide for myself what is right for me personally? It’s my risk to myself.
None of it made sense to me and that is when I began the deep dive. It wasn’t always easy as google pretty much controlled the information. You had to find alternative search engines to find ALL information not just the ones they wanted you to see. Turned out to be quite an education for myself; one that changed my outlook on the medical and pharmaceutical industries forever.
I guess like most things people prefer to just take professionals words for truth. It’s obviously the easier route. But I am convinced that if individuals took the time to just do a little research on their own they might feel and think differently. What I have learned has so changed my outlook on my health and wellness. I have to take a more proactive approach in securing my health and wellness and it’s not an easy task for me or for anyone. Imagine how lost the elderly feel? And I’m soon approaching the elderly category. I pray I have a critical thinking advocate for me when I can no longer make my own decisions.
Trying to find the root causes of ailments is a daunting task. But I would rather find the reason for the illness versus just masking it. I want to eradicate it, not live with it. Wellness in general is quite complicated. It encompasses our entire bodies and minds and both are so very complex.
Now I don’t want you to think I’m totally against conventional medicine. I do believe it has some value. What I do think about conventional medicine is that the motivation to heal has been diluted and corrupted. One should read about the Rockefeller family and the role they had shaping the medical and pharmaceutical industries. This truly sheds light on what has become of our healthcare system.
There has never been a greater revival in American’s focus on health and wellness than now, ie MAHA. And who in their right minds can argue with this crusade? Isn’t that what we all want for ourselves and our loved ones? What I do know is that you cannot take it for grant it. We should start living clean and healthy from the very start. There are so many components to achieving wellness and the more resources the better. And it all begins with the food we eat, the air we breathe and how we take care of our minds and bodies.
Things we would never think of could affect us in later years of our lives and most definitely can and do. So, be sure to leave no stone unturned and not discard historical remedies. There are so many different types of medicine that we do not even consider. I myself have started utilizing a more collaborative and collective approach. Sometimes getting back to the basics can be transformative. I have joined the American Holistic Academy and have found wonderful support and amazing resources. If you choose to explore this resource and become a member please use this link to join https://www.skool.com/holisticamerican/about?ref=1e80e8b48f874bfa90435fd3722fc66f.
In my collaborative approach I have started seeing a Naturopath as well as utilizing the many professionals that belong to the American Holistic Academy. I have also been to traditional practitioners recently to be very dismayed by their dismissive approaches to my utilization of additional resources. To say the least, they are not interested in collaborating. Their approach is very granular and quick to throw a drug at the problem instead of analyzing the possible root causes. Functional medicine has a more personal, all encompassing strategy. And it’s obvious by the amount of time they spend with you.
I feel so much more seen when I see and talk to a Functional medical professional. It’s not a quick fix but knowing we together are looking for the reasons to eliminate the problem with the least amount of additional side effects feels like a worthwhile trade off. Unfortunately insurance most times will not cover these visits or therapies as it would disrupt their lucrative Western monopoly. But how much is your health worth?
If you are looking for alternatives to what many feel is a broken system, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurvedic, are just a few to incorporate into your health and wellness journey. This link gives a more encompassing look at alternative medicines. Maybe some might seem a little out there but I would not be too dismissive. There is a lot to be learned and gained historically and culturally. Our health and wellness is a life long journey my friends, and we control its destiny.
